505 applications for SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022

The National Research Council and the bodies it has appointed are responsible for the evaluation.

Due to Switzerland's status as a non-associated third country in Horizon Europe, the federal government mandated the SNSF to launch a new call for this transitional measure. It is aimed at early-career researchers wishing to obtain a position at a non-profit research institution in Switzerland for 12 to 24 months. 

What is the profile of the applicants?

The 505 projects are distributed across the research areas as follows: 206 in mathematics, natural and engineering sciences, 175 in biology and medicine, and 124 in the social sciences and humanities. The average budget requested per project is approximately 250,000 Swiss francs.

The average applicant is 32 years old. Nearly 200 female researchers submitted an application, corresponding to 39% of projects. The highest number of applications by women were submitted in the social sciences and humanities, followed by biology and medicine, and mathematics, natural and engineering sciences.

More than half of the researchers who submitted an application plan to do research at a university in Switzerland (58%). Others are considering going to an ETH/EPF (35%).

Evaluation of applications

The applications will be evaluated remotely in a single-stage process without interviews. Experts from the relevant disciplines will evaluate the applications that meet the formal requirements. Two evaluators per project will independently prepare an evaluation report. Based on these reports, the applications will be ranked according to the evaluation best-practices of the SNSF.

In June 2023, applicants will be informed whether their project has been approved for SNSF funding.